Why should bloggers attend fashion weeks

A question that is being asked a lot more these days is : Why should bloggers attend (or be invited) to fashion weeks.

Bloggers (and am not speaking for all) have an inherent need to be relevant and Fashion Weeks are the right platform to be noticed. Self-promotion and Brand Building are important activities. After all, bloggers are only as good as the brand they create in themselves.

My first time at a Fashion Week, I did not know a soul. I was invited by a friend who was walking the ramp for the first time and was quite excited to attend just the one show. I felt like I had bragging rights, if I can call it that.The second time I attended, was for my blog. I wanted to capture street style images. I only managed to squeeze in a day and a half at the Fashion Week. Nobody sent me invites, nobody knew who I was. But I still loved the experience and the couple of shows I attended. The last season, was perhaps the entire experience. I had media accreditation through India’s only Fashion Discovery based shopping platform called Wooplrand had access to the head ramp, the after parties, the grand finales, etc.

It is a well known fact, that New York Fashion Week intends to ban bloggers from attending. Apparently in recent years, the number of bloggers attending has gone through the roof. And this is quite evident at the Delhi and Bombay fashion weeks as well. With every season that I attended, the number of bloggers I see in the break out area (I add to the statistic as well, of course) has increased a fair bit. The point is, the entire purpose of a Fashion Week showcase from a designer/brand perspective, is to make a mark that leads to sales. Hence, inviting buyers is critical. Having said that it only makes sense to also invite publications and the press who in turn influence buyers right? And bloggers do exactly that – influence buyers. In some cases perhaps more if not the same as magazines. Because a model wearing an outfit strikes less of a chord with a consumer than a real person wearing it.

But as a blogger, it is important for you to understand where you stand in the influencer pyramid. You could be a novice or you could be someone with shit loads of followers but you don’t really care much about “fashion”. Then there are people like me, who have a very limited number of followers but post consistently and engage people and therefore are in “No man’s land“. And finally there are the Top Bloggers who every other tier of blogger looks up to and aspires to be.

People might wonder (including a bunch of bloggers) if they really need to attend a fashion week.

“We don’t work for Condé Nast and we most certainly don’t have a store. So why should we attend?”

Because we are the closest to the consumers! Be it through our blogs, social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook or in real life. It is part of our “Job Description” to attend and pass on the trends to our followers. Is that not why we are in the game?

However, if you think Fashion Week is all about glamour and being noticed and shot by magazines, etc., you couldn’t be further away from the truth. Fashion Week isn’t all about front row access, snapchat, selfies, or access to launch parties and lunches with free wine and booze. If that is why you are attending, then you are doing Fashion Week wrong.

PS: These are my views. You don’t have to agree with it. Everyone has a butthole that stinks, likewise with opinions.